ALTer EGO: Top 5 Moments

posted by Sierra Marquina -

4 months ago

Beck, Mumford & Sons, Cage the Elephant, The National, Spoon, AJR, WALK THE MOON, and Dashboard Confessional didn’t mess around at iHeartRadio’s ALTer EGO 2018 at The Forum in Los Angeles on Friday, January 19. Not only did Maggie Rogers perform with self-described big bros Mumford & Sons but Dashboard Confessional performed their brand new single “Heart Beat Here” for the first time and — perhaps most memorable moment of the night — Cage the Elephant proved they can go more ballistic each performance.

Mumford & Sons brought out muse Maggie Rogers during “Awake My Soul.” The singer-songwriter from Easton, Maryland, rose to fame after wowing Pharrell during a master class at New York University. A video of Pharrell listening to her song “Alaska” — which she wrote in 15 minutes about a hiking trip — during the class then went viral, breaking Maggie onto the scene. She was then handpicked by Mumford & Sons to perform during their Gentlemen of The Road festival.

It’s been a whooping eight years since we’ve heard new music from Dashboard Confessional and they revived emo at iHeartRadio’s ALTer EGO 2018, performing for the first time new track “Heart Beat Here,” the latest to be released off their forthcoming LP, Crooked Shadows.

Frontman Chris Carrabba, who offered a seriously powerful vocal over a strong acoustic strum, enlisted the help of the crowd, turning on mics to record an acoustic with them singing the chorus.

Beck made his triumphant return to Los Angeles, the city that birthed not only the sonic pioneer also but his eclectic musical style, at iHeartRadio’s inaugural ALTer EGO. After kicking off his performance with 1994 mega hit “Loser," the postmodernist unleashed joyous dance tracks off his thirteenth studio album Colors, a sublime piece of alt-pop that he crafted specifically for his live performances onto the sold-out venue.

And they’re back! WALK THE MOON officially reestablished themselves as "a band’s band of dudes playing rock music together” at iHeartRadio’s inaugural ALTer EGO 2018. The Cincinnati, Ohio-formed band performed new hits “One Foot,” “Kamikaze,” "Surrender," 2014 smash hit “Shut Up and Dance,” and even 2010 throwback “Anna Sun.”

While chatting with The Woody Show, the foursome explained they wanted to reestablish themselves as a rock band.

“The song ‘Shut Up and Dance’ kind of exploded in a way that in a number of ways kind of outpaced the band and we were trying to keep our identity as this three-dimensional unit that has a depth of catalog and isn’t just this one song,” the band told Harms backstage. “So with this record we were definitely looking to really cement ourselves as a band’s band of dudes playing rock music together.”

Did we mention they also got matching tattoos? Because that happened too.

Cage the Elephant came through with that cardiovascular energy closing out the inaugural ALTer EGO. The pumped-up performance featured “To Late to Say Goodbye,” "Cold Cold Cold,” “It’s Just Forever,” “Come a Little Closer,” “Teeth," “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” and “Shake Me Down."